'Yellow vests' riots scuttle EU chief's Paris visit

By Yusuf Hatip

BRUSSELS

A visit by the EU chief visit to France on Tuesday was cancelled over the "yellow vests" fuel tax protests, European Commission sources said on Monday.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was expected to address the French National Assembly on Tuesday but his visit to Paris was scuttled over the protests.

Juncker was also expected to meet French President Emmanuel Macron for a dinner Tuesday as well as French National Assembly President Richard Ferrand, but these meetings were postponed.

Thousands of "yellow vest" protesters have gathered in Paris and several other cities for the last two weeks to protest Macron's controversial fuel tax.

Demonstrators, who generally live in rural areas due to high rents in the cities, have demanded Macron cut fuel taxes and make economic arrangements that will ease their lives.

French police on Saturday cracked down on protesters around the famous Champs-Elysees in Paris with tear gas and water cannons.

Demonstrators set a large number of vehicles and trash cans ablaze and pelted stones and bottles at the police.

So far in the riots, at least two people have been killed, while 1,043 others -- including 222 security forces -- were injured, and 1,424 persons were arrested.

According to a recent survey, 84 percent of French people support the protestors, mostly from the middle-income group.

Over the last year, fuel prices in France have risen more than 20 percent.